1. Field of Invention
This invention is in the field of apparatus and methods for conditioning a person's auditory/vestibular system and, more particularly, is an apparatus for enhancing sound provided to the auditory/vestibular system of a person via air and bone conduction and methods for using the apparatus to condition the auditory/vestibular system of a person that has a listening disorder.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are seven principal aspects of listening which are given as follows:
A first aspect of listening is defined as a motivated functional ability of a person to attend ("tune in") some sound and reject ("tune out") other sound.
A second aspect of listening is defined as an ability of the person to discriminate between sounds having differing frequencies within an audio frequency range.
A third aspect of listening is defined as an ability of the person to determine the spatial origin of a sound.
A fourth aspect of listening is defined as an ability to make a timely response to sonic stimuli and an ability to make a timely response to a change in sonic stimuli.
A fifth aspect of listening relates to an ability of the person to control their speech by establishing a lateralization of sound to the person's right ear. Lateralization is explained hereinafter.
A sixth aspect of listening relates to an ability of a person to derive meaning or recognition of incoming sound signals such as from tonal type or lexical type signals.
A seventh aspect of listening relates to an ability of a person to be sensitive to memories stored in a person's body which are activated by a sonic stimulation.
Correspondingly, there are four aspects of vestibular functioning which are as follows:
A first aspect is the analysis of movement of the body such that erect posture and spatial balance are maintained.
A second aspect is the ability to coordinate the signals from throughout the body.
A third aspect is the ability to respond in a desired way to one's incoming motor and sensory signals in a timely manner.
A fourth aspect is to integrate sensory and neurophysiological information such that complex behaviors such as reading aloud without error is accomplished in a timely manner.
Sound is heard because it passes through air to a person's ears (known as air conduction) and through bones near the ears (known as bone conduction). Although the person's hearing may be substantially unimpaired by either sensory neural loss, conduction loss or osteoporosis, for example, the person may have a defective ability to listen. The defective listening ability has been associated with many disorders (referred to as listening disorders) some of which are described hereinafter.
A training procedure for dealing with a listening disorder has been suggested only within the past forty years. There are many disorders which have yet to be ascribed to the defective ability to listen. There are some listening disorders for which auditory conditioning is a known successful training procedure. There are other listening disorders for which auditory conditioning is not a known successful training procedure.
When the person does not have a sensory neural loss, auditory conditioning is used to deal with an inability to discriminate between sounds of the differing frequencies and to treat insensitivity to sound. The insensitivity may cause the person to experience a lack of motivation, lack of creativity and lack of energy. Typically, the insensitivity has a psychological and/or a neurophysiological basis.
Auditory conditioning is additionally used to deal with the person's inability to tune out or to comfortably perceive sound at known frequencies within the audio frequency range, thereby causing a two open reception or a hypersensitivity to sound at the known frequencies. Typically, the hypersensitivity has a psychological and/or neurophysiological basis.
When the person has an inability to attend and concentrate, it may be a manifestation of a reduced ability to listen to sound transmitted via air conduction (when compared to the ability to listen via bone conduction) that can be dealt with by auditory conditioning. Typically, the inability to attend and concentrate has a psychological and/or neurophysiological basis.
A speech articulation and/or fluency defect is often related to the person's inability to perceive and distinguish sound signals clearly and to efficiency use the neurological pathways to a hearing center on the left side of a person's brain (left side hearing center) from the person's ears. The left side hearing center controls the person's speech organs.
The most efficient neurological pathway to the left side hearing center is from the person's right ear; a neurological pathway from the person's left ear is less efficient. Through a process known as lateralization, auditory conditioning is used to cause a dominance of the neurological pathway from the right ear to the left side hearing center, known as right ear dominance. Most people (and practically all singers) have right ear dominance.
A listening temporal spatial disorder manifests itself as a difficulty in determining the spatial origin of a source of sound. Auditory conditioning has been used to deal with the temporal spatial disorder.
Reading aloud is one of the most important human skills and a significant basis for learning. When the person is unable to read aloud, she is said to have a listening reading aloud (LRA) disorder.
The LRA disorder is a manifestation of the person's inability to integrate motor signals from their vestibular system and/or sound signals from the cochlea may be related to an inability to integrate aural, visual, vocal functions and a plethora of other functions. The inability to integrate is caused by visual sensations being processed by the person's brain at one rate and aural sensations being processed at another rate. The inability to integrate may additionally effect the person's reading and posture.
The LRA disorder may produce what is known as dyslexia. Dyslexia is a disorder whereby the person omits words and letters, adds words and reverses the order of words in a text that she reads aloud. Additionally, the LRA disorder may produce an inability to distinguish sounds of different frequencies. The LRA disorder has been dealt with by auditory conditioning.
When the person either consciously or subconsciously dislikes the sound of their own voice, they have what is known as a vocal dislike listening disorder. There are aspects of the vocal dislike listening disorder that have not been dealt with by auditory conditioning.
It should be understood that every muscle of the person's body is neurologically connected to the person's vestibular system. Because of the connection, the condition of the person's vestibular system bears upon all aspects of the person's motor control, such as the person's posture and the ability of the person's body to work efficiently. Auditory conditioning has been used to deal with motor control problems.
A listening disorder is dealt with during a minimum training period of two weeks. During the training period, there is typically intensive conditioning over sequential days. This is followed by breaks for integration of changes in the conditioning, followed by additional conditioning.